Gunfire echoed around me, Ronan had deployed his defenses and his ships met with the Ravagers ensuing a firefight that our group had avoided. We were hovering aside the battleship, firing with the utmost intensity, desperately trying to put a hole in its side. But with the continuous blasts and no apparent change, it felt hopeless.

My eyes caught the sight of the engines blaring as they increased their speed, my jaw locked and I focused back towards the task at hand.

An explosion burst into life, the fire thriving on the oxygen before dying out quickly without anything to spread it's hungry flames to. At the sight of our accomplishment, which I previously thought to be impossible, an anxiety flowed through me, a nervous anticipation, that this was going to work. I had my doubts after being beat by Ronan, if he could be stopped. It wasn't that I didn't have faith in my friends, just experiencing that man's power and now amplified by the stone, I feared for them.

Rocket had alerted Quill and Yondu that the opening was ready and thus we fell back, joining the fight.

I lost Rocket among the chaos, eventually I forgot about him with the overbearing amount of ships attacking from each direction. One would go down and another would take its place, to say it was infuriating was an understatement.

A flash of yellow zoomed by, earning my curiosity. My eyes flickered around the sky, trying to see what it was, before landing on a star shaped ship. A star blaster, the Nova Corps had come to help. I tracked it for a second longer, watching it fly up to Ronan's ship — which had gotten dangerously close — and stop, then turned my gaze back to the battle and began firing again.

I weaved among other ships, fired blasters sending enemies careening towards the earth miles below. My grip on the control wheel tightened by the moment, my body sat straight as a pin and eyes darted between the radar and the outside. I was in the moment more than ever, alert and watching for whatever was next.

A ship suddenly flew past too close for comfort, I jerked the controls back exhaling a breath of relief. I went to fire but another ship shot by. Confused, I tracked it's path as it sailed straight for the land below, not changing its course and hit a building. More of Ronan's fleet followed and the stark realization hit; they were dive-bombing the city.

In a hurried voice I spoke over the radio, "They're attacking the city."

"I see em'." Rocket replied, then addressed everyone, "Those who can, get down to the city and stop 'em before they touch the ground!"

Having already been on my way I arrived and positioned myself over a body of water, ship facing the sky. A few others joined me, mimicking with their guns aimed skyward. There was no action for a moment, then a wave of falling ships commenced and blasters let loose. In the section I was in nothing touched the earth, more were coming but it seemed they would—

Light filled the sky, drawing my attention upwards. It took a second to comprehend, but once I processed what was happening my face went slack and I watched with horror as the barrier the Nova Corps had formed was destroyed and ships exploded. Ronan's battleship advanced, moving closer towards decimating Xandar.

"Quill you gotta hurry." Rocket's voice was strained. "The city's been evacuated but we're getting our asses kicked down here."

He yelled in reply, "Gamora hasn't opened the door!"

My brows furrowed and I decided to join the conversation. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know, but it's Gamora, I mean."

I inclined my head. "True."

In the split second after I continued firing again one of our ships broke away and flew towards the battle. Who would do that, I had limited guesses.

"Rocket is that you?" I asked accusingly.

"Yep."

I paused before answering to shoot another vessel, it skimming a bridge as its debris fell into the river. Then, I said, "Why are you going back up? It's not to do something stupid is it?"

I could hear him roll his eyes. "I want to make sure Ronan didn't kick their asses. They should've hit him with that nice Hadron Enforcer by now."

My head did a quick shake. "No, Rocket, if they needed help they would've radioed it."

He sounded irritated, "But what if they couldn't?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat, knowing he was right. "Be careful." Rocket didn't respond and I watched him fly away, navigating through the chaos until he reached the ship. Then he did something inexplicable. He flew right into it.

My mouth ran dry, shock settling in at the fact that — yes, Rocket actually just did that.

"Rocket!" I called sharply into the radio. My body was stone, awaiting a sign to know he was alright. Again, I tried calling his name.

His channel relayed nothing but static.

I fell back against the seat my hands loosening around the controls. My thoughts were scattered, but the urge to go up there and as he did — or attempted to do — check on everyone and make sure Ronan was finished.

I gripped the wheel and forced it forwards, taking the ship up. My eye was on one destination; the Dark Aster. Perhaps it was because of my tunnel vision, my desperation to make sure everyone was okay, that I didn't notice a ship swooping in and clipping my right wing with numerous blasts.

The ship jolted, my hands were thrown from the controls and alarms rang in my ears. I grunted as the ship tilted sideways, my body rocking violently in the chair while the ship lost altitude and no longer had lateral balance. With a quick glance at the control board I saw one of the wings was gone.

"God,"

I gritted my teeth, gripping the wheel and pulling up with all the strength I could use without breaking it. The world spun around me, making me nauseous to both see the indiscernible blur of the outside and to know that I couldn't regain control.

The impact was different than I expected. It hurt like hell; my teeth rattled and my head slammed the back of the seat, black spots swam in my vision, stealing the blinding sunlight. I sucked in a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut.

That had not been pleasant. But somehow I had survived.

Carefully I tried to unbuckle myself, resorting to tearing the item off my bruised skin when it was jammed. As I went to stand the ship groaned, swaying beneath me. I froze, my arms spread out beside me for balance. The ground shouldn't move like that.

For the first time since my crash I looked towards the glass, breathing in surprise at the sight.

The whole ship was almost immersed in water, and it was sinking, fast.

My breath came short as I raced to the hatch, stretching up to grasp the wheel that needed to be spun to free me. But as I twisted it the ship lurched to the side unexpectedly. I let out a cry and was sent falling, my arm held out to brace myself but it instead crumpled under my body, the metal of the wall dug painfully into the muscles.

When we finally stopped moving, I found the wall to be my new floor. Now, water fully submerged the ship but it didn't look like it was on the riverbed, which allowed me to hope it would be easier to swim to the surface. With an examination of the interior I saw no water had penetrated the ship, currently my only worry was running out of oxygen.

I slowly stood and made my way over to the hatch, sitting down beside it. Agonizingly I wrenched open the hatch. My ribs throbbed with each movement, it hurt to breathe, to turn this infernal wheel. I likely had a concussion from all the times I whacked my head but the only thing I felt now was a bearable headache.

The final turn came and I let out a sigh of relief, but prepared myself for the water which would rush in when the hatch was opened. I stood to the side, my body bent and fingers wrapped around the metal, with a deep inhale I pulled it open.

White foam gushed in, soon filling up to my ankles, it rushed down the wall filling the space. My teeth chattered and I shifted, drawing my limbs closer. The water was like ice, my expression became one of distaste, not wishing to have to dive into this. With the addition of the liquid the ship was becoming even more unstable. It creaked and groaned, if I listened hard enough I could hear the currents violently hitting the outside and it wouldn't be long before the ship took another turn.

I inched forward, my hands bracing myself on the metal, and with the deepest breath I could muster I forced myself out and into the river headfirst.

The mental preparation I had done was thrown out the window the moment I was enveloped in the river's bitter temperature. The air I saved burned in my chest, suddenly wanting to escape. As I frantically tried to swim my outer extremities felt like they had needles sticking in them. My arms grew tired, each stroke becoming more strenuous, yet the surface was right there. I could see the light dancing off the water's top, clearer images appeared, bursts of light from blasters being fired flashed, illuminating my face.

And then I broke through.

Coughs and throaty rasps echoed through the air as my chest heaved, lungs aching for a proper breath. The more my chest expanded a pressure built, turning into a pulsing pain that almost caused me to seize consequently dropping like a rock. My head turned from side to side, searching for the bank.

My lips curled upwards seeing a part of the concrete wall bordering the river had crumbled, as fast as my body would let me I swam over to it, groaning as my weak arms pulled practically dead weight out of the water.

I had managed to get my body far enough up so that the water only lapped at the soles of my shoes. My head lulled to the side, eyes drifting shut.

The second my eyes closed my muscles became unresponsive, overcome with extreme fatigue. But I had to get up. They were still up there, fighting Ronan, I had to…

•

•

•

The ground shook, stirring me.

A deep breath was sucked into my lungs, pain flared in my chest area as I detected the overbearing smell of smoke.

The realization that I'd fallen asleep hit me then and I snapped up, disregarding my injuries. In the distance I could see black smoke rising in a thick cloud. Screams filled my ears, momentarily disorientating me. With a glance towards the sky I saw Ronan's battleship was no longer there.

The ship had crashed.

My eyes widened in alarm and hands slapped the top of a slab of concrete, using it to pull myself up. Now mobile I limped past debris and through an oncoming crowd, down concaved streets and buildings that had holes blown in them.

My destination was the crash site. Hopefully whatever I found there would be—

A purple light suddenly appeared in the distance, beyond the rows of buildings that separated me from the remains of Ronan's ship. I stumbled to a stop, marveling at the luminosity that was so out of place, but in reality it wasn't.

The air was heavy with dust, choking me as I ran towards the glaring violet light, the light which was unmistakably the same as when Carina had grabbed ahold of the stone back on Knowhere. Dread filled me, if not for the adrenaline pumping through my veins I would have needed to sit down at the thought of Ronan using the stone on Xandar. I didn't bother listening in to what was going on there, trying to find one conversation — one person — would take too long. And time is something precious I couldn't afford to waste.

My feet smacked the pavement, avoiding fallen debris and fleeing citizens whose terrified beings caused me to lose myself in an inner turmoil of thinking this is the end.

I stopped and stumbled over to a wall, my hand outstretched to catch myself on it while the other wrapped around my ribs as my legs shook threatening to drop me.

The sounds of battle had quieted and I knew I was close to arriving at the scene, gathering my composure, I forced myself onwards.

Trudging through the destroyed city proved a mediocre task; there wasn't much longer to go as I arrived in a clearing where onlookers bore ecstatic expressions and rejoiced in another's arms. My gaze flickered from them, hope bursting inside my chest at the sight, and found Quill beside Gamora. Both were filthy and exhausted, they leaned on another for support, Gamora held the silver orb in her hands.

I laughed, tears of relief misting my eyes. Seeing that thing which had already caused so much destruction locked away felt wonderful. With another scan I noticed Ronan's body was nowhere to be found. The happiness faded away, turning into a bitter resentment towards the man if he managed to slink out of the star system before being killed.

My body tense, ready for a fight, I walked over to Quill and Gamora. Their heads jerked up upon my arrival, both standing to greet me. Gamora nodded slightly, her lips twitching into a smile while Quill broke out into a grin, pointing towards the orb with an incline of his head.

"You missed it, we totally decimated Ronan — like I went like this," He squeezed an eye shut and held out a closed fist, then popped it open. "and purple energy came out and hit that blueberry and boom he exploded. And you look like shit." I bobbed my head vaguely at his afterthought, more concerned with his previous words. Despite his wild retelling of events, I had learned that Ronan died, and was glad of it.

Gamora raised her brows, unimpressed. "Yes Ronan is dead, but he is only one of many." She turned her gaze back towards me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I'm great." She returned the light smile, giving me a once over before looking back to Quill.

The conversation turned to talking about the Xandarians and giving them the stone, Quill joked about them throwing us a party because "we saved their asses.'' I stood idly listening to their chatter, before my attention fell over their shoulders and landed on a sight that sent me reeling back in both disbelief and horror.

Rocket, who's well-being I had pushed to the back of my mind to keep my own sanity, was bent over, clutching a stick.

My head twisted around, just now noticing the unsettling amount of wood scattered across the ground. Panic took hold of me, and I staggered over to him.

I winced as sticks cracked beneath my knees, knots of wood poked through my clothes while I kneeled in front of Rocket, startling him by my appearance. He stared at me; fur matted from tears, distraught, and at a loss for words. The only thing he was able to do was weakly raise the stick in his hands, and I got the message.

There was a rawness to when I cried, perhaps it was because the events of these past few days had accumulated and now they came rushing out like water spilling over a dam. Misery had overtaken me. There was no revenge to enact to satisfy the loss burrowing a hole in my heart, yet even if I could squeeze the life out of Ronan, I wondered if that would change anything at all.

Eventually my tears ran dry, and my sobs quieted, dissolving into nothing. I pushed my emotions to the dark corners of my mind, locking it away with the rest of the things that I wanted to forget.

"He died a hero." Drax's voice startled me and my head snapped to beside Rocket, who still looked miserable. How I hadn't noticed him sitting there was beyond me.

Rocket nodded, adding on, "Yeah, he sacrificed himself saving us. The ship was going down and we wouldn't have survived," He paused, then mumbled an affectionate word dualed with sadness, "that idiot."

I swallowed the hard lump in my throat, shifting my position slowly, for with every move the sticks beneath me snapped. Carefully, I brought my knees close, resting my folded arms on them. My head tilted down, connecting with the uncomfortably warm skin of my forearm.

When Yondu's ship came flying overhead I wasn't fazed, today had been tiring enough and dealing with that man Quill could handle.

I partially listened in as Yondu demanded the orb, but stopped caring once I knew Quill switched it and the rest was a façade.

Today was almost over. Ronan was killed, the stone dealt with. Groot was dead. Lastly, to deal with the Xandrians.

My tired eyes lifted to the sounds of three pairs of footsteps walking in a formation and the shuffle of the crowd as they parted for them. Three men in uniform were revealed to us, one stepped forward and said to no one in particular,

"The Nova Prime requests your presence at the Nova Corps Headquarters, if you would please follow us, she would like to express her gratitude."

Quill nodded. "Thanks, lead the way." He left first, followed by Gamora who cast a glance over her shoulder towards us. Drax trailed behind Rocket and I, who trudged along at a slower pace. The eight of us arrived at the headquarters and were greeted by an older woman at the door. The guards fanned out, standing vigil at the entrance, while the woman walked towards us a smile on her face.

"On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude. You saved us, defeating Ronan and saving Xandar." The woman, who I'd assumed was the Nova Prime, paused, her eyes wandering before landing on Quill. "Let's have everyone get cleaned up, and then we'll meet again." The white-haired woman gestured to a guard who stepped to attention. "Please follow her."

We all nodded in thanks as we passed by the Nova Prime. We were led inside the headquarters, it's cleanliness causing me to feel slightly guilty about the clumps of dirt and dusty shoe prints we left in our wake. Down two stairwells we went and around three corners before arriving at space that had rows of lockers built into its walls. A row of wooden benches were placed on either side of the room, a drenched towel was draped on the ending of one, it smelled strongly of must. Across was the entry to the showers. I could see moisture from the last rinse glistening on a divider which was composed of stark white tiles that stretched in every direction with silver shower heads mounted above.

"The men are here, women are next over. You can leave your clothes on the benches, they'll be cleaned for when you get out." The guard announced.

Drax, Rocket and Quill departed from our group. We didn't say goodbye, for we would see each other in minutes.

Gamora and I were led to the next room over, it was the same set up, the only thing that differed was the coloring. Instead of the bathroom being a chalk white, it was a soft purple, which was much more appealing. The pair of them undressed, and hit the showers.

Warm water running over my face never felt so good. I don't remember the last time I had a shower. There was that time at the prison, but I didn't think getting sprayed with an orange liquid counts.

My fingers dug through the rats nest which was my hair, attempting to untangle it as the soap cleansed it. I scrubbed and pulled and yanked but the hair would not come free, it's many strands remained intertwined in each other and a thought nagged me to cut it all off. Be done with it. But I couldn't.

I adjusted the water temperature to a cooler one, hoping that with the shower not steaming hot, with boiling water beating against my skin, perhaps my anger would ebb. I spent longer than Gamora standing under the falling water. The active shower with it's sound resembling a heavy rain distracted me from the rest of the world. I was able to focus on this moment, not what was going on a mile away, just this.

When my feet ached from standing too long I turned the shower off, hurried over to the bench where thankfully, towels were placed beside my clothes.

Retracing my footsteps back upstairs was easy, listening intently I found everyone was already gathered and so I navigated my way through the building until I opened the door to the correct room.

Nova Prime smiled at me. "We sent someone to retrieve you but you had already left. It's good you made it here although." I nodded silently, drifting over to stand beside Rocket. I noticed he was carrying a pot with a piece of Groot sticking out of it. The woman's eyes scanned us all. "Now that you're all here, I would like to once again, give you my thanks. But now if you will, please follow Denerian Dey."

We were led through the building and to the outside. I squinted while exiting the place, looking up into the bright sky which earlier that day had been filled with enemy ships.

"We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible." Denerian Dey spoke, gesturing to a ship that was resting across the walkway. "We salvaged as much as we could."

It was a replica of the Milano, everyone stood for a moment taking in the beauty of the new one. I felt a smile coming across my face, they did do a good job.

Quill thanked Dey, and I watched as after a moment of contemplating the latter spoke, "I have a family. They're alive because of you. Your criminal records have also been expunged, however I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future."

"Question." Rocket began, I shot him a side eye, he was going to give the guy some top level bullshit. "What if I see something that I want to take and it belongs to someone else?"

Dey replied, "You will be arrested."

"But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

The man reiterated what he said previously, "It's still illegal."

I chuckled as Rocket wouldn't give up and began trying to prove his case.

"Excuse me ma'am?" I turned at the sound of someone addressing me, an eyebrow raised in questioning. A guard stood there carrying a box, they lifted it slightly and said. "The Nova Prime would like to give these medical supplies to your group on her behalf."

"Oh, thank you." I hurried to take it, but recoiled when stretching my arms caused sharp pricks to appear in my abdomen. I ignored the look the guard sent me, annoyed that this injury disabled me in ways, and tried again this time planning to brave the pain. Before I could grasp the box's handles, someone brushed in front of me taking ahold of the item.

I stepped back and observed Drax. He gave me a nod, I returned it. He then headed towards the ship, and I followed.

I sat in the cockpit, my legs slung over the chair's armrests when a song began to play. It was Quill's, his Terran music he'd gotten from while he was a child on that planet. I closed my eyes and listened to it.

Honestly, it wasn't half-bad.

"...Cause' baby there ain't no mountain high enough

Ain't no valley low enough

Ain't no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you babe…"

A/n ANNND FINISHED! *sorry for not giving notice about this being the final chapter i kinda kept writing and it just happened* Anyways I can't believe I wrote this, there were times when I thought how to go on but thankfully I prevailed!

I might make a sequel, I'm thinking it'd be non canon and reintroduce that scientist guy from the very beginning who "raised" Maia as the antagonist.

Thank you to everyone who follow/favorited/read/reviewed, seeing any one of those really helped my motivation. If you can drop a review and let me know what you think!

Goodbye!